


run away with my love

by artsyleo



Series: comfortember 2020 [28]
Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys In Love, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyleo/pseuds/artsyleo
Summary: comfortember prompt day 28 - car ridetwo car rides in their relationship
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Series: comfortember 2020 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995826
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	run away with my love

Everything changes in an instant. 

One moment he’s on top of the world, and it feels like things are finally falling into place. It feels like he doesn’t deserve to be this lucky, but he  _ is _ . Callum loves him, wants to move in with him and that’s so incredible and alien that it doesn’t feel like it could be possible. He’s sure that he doesn’t deserve the other man’s love, that he never will. But he’s greedy and selfish and he’ll take what’s offered while he can, before the truth all comes out and Callum realises what he’s facing,  _ who _ he’s facing in Ben. 

He knows he’ll never feel like he fits with Callum, but he’ll try his best, while he can. 

And now Callum’s  _ moving in.  _ That feels like an impossible achievement, that Callum wants to belong somewhere along with Ben. That Callum actively wants to exist in the same place,  _ chooses to _ , even. 

It’s the happiest he’s ever been in that moment, feels like everything’s coming together. 

He steps out into the square and everything changes. 

Police cars, and the sight of that smarmy DI that he vaguely recognises. It’s with that sight that his life changes in an instant. 

The look on the police officer’s face and the self-satisfied tone of his voice makes his stomach turn and his fists clench, fingernails digging into his palms and all that he can think about is swinging his fist into the other man’s face. But he knows really that that is never going to help. He can’t punch his way out of this one. 

The voice in his head that says that sounds suspiciously like Callum, and that scares him too. 

Just as he’s walking forward to get into the car he looks back and he’s not sure what he’s really hoping to see. Maybe he’s expecting to see Callum’s face looking for him, longing after him- or at least, wondering what’s going on. Or maybe he’s expecting Callum to fight for him. He doesn’t know, really, but when he turns back the other man is nowhere to be seen. There’s disappointment swelling in his chest, and maybe he’d been hoping to just see Callum’s face, take some reassurance from the face of the man that he loves. 

But he doesn’t. So he turns back, and tries not to flinch when the sound of the car door shutting rings too loud through his implant. 

He doesn’t know what to think, can’t get his racing thoughts in order enough to process the fact that he’s back, sat here. It’s not as if the sight of the inside of a police car is an unusual sight to Ben, but it’s one that he had been determined never to see again. It’s been different in the past- before, his only motivation to stay out of prison had been the fear of losing his freedom, or maybe the fear of what he’d find inside. Now though there’s a whole other motivator, so much more to lose. Now he’s fallen in love- something he’d never thought he’d get the chance to do again. Now he’s got a kid, now he’s got  _ the love of his life _ . Callum and Lexi are by far the most important people in his life, and leaving them behind scares him even more than his own impending doom. He’s got reasons to stay now, and something about that makes the whole situation more terrifying. 

_ God _ , and just as they’d agreed to move in. It feels as though fate is laughing at him. He’d gotten so close to everything he’s wanted the past year and it had all been stolen. Maybe that’s why it feels so much like he’s being driven to his doom as the car pulls out of the square.

It feels painfully familiar. 

It feels too much like the end, and that terrifies him.

-

The square is covered in blue and silver and gold, and awash with little lights. They shine out properly now that the sun’s just set, and Callum loves it. It’s rare that the place ever looks so innocent and so  _ pretty _ , what with everything that’s gone on in the place even just in the years that he’s lived around here. It’s weird, but he kind of likes the thought behind it. It’s the people around here that really make it feel like home. The place itself holds so many bad memories but he knows all of the faces around here, because the community is like no other. It feels like a family most of the time, rather than a group of neighbours, and it only feels right that they’re all involved in this. He’d seen them all earlier- even Ian had gotten involved, hanging sets of fairy lights around the Vic and between the bars of the fences around the square. It’s paid off now, because it’s  _ perfect _ . 

But that’s not the sight that Callum’s got his eyes fixed on now. 

No, it’s the man standing next to him- the man that he can now, officially, call his  _ husband _ . 

The matching gold rings on their fingers catch in the low light, shining with every step as they catch on different beams of light. It’s a sight that he can’t take his eyes off, mainly because it’s something that he once thought he’d never be able to have. It still feels somewhat impossible that they’ve got this far against all the odds, against everything that’s been thrown at them but Callum can’t be happier than they did, because he’s never been more in love, more  _ happy,  _ than he is right now. 

They walk together, hand clasped in warm, loving hand, through the streets of the square where there’s an old car waiting for them. Callum doesn’t really know much about it but apparently it’s a classic, and it had made Ben happy so that was all that matters. It’s pretty enough, he supposes, but it doesn’t matter to him. 

Stuart’s waiting for them by the passenger side of the car, a huge smile on his face. It means the world to him that he’s got Stuart with him today. It’s not that he misses the presence of his dad, exactly, but there had been this lingering thought before, of what had happened between them in the runup to his last wedding, and how that had ended up. Stuart’s the only blood family that he needs anyway, and he couldn’t be happier that he’s here now. 

Him and Ben only part when they reach the car, Ben going around to hug jay where he’d been waiting on the driver’s side. Stuart leans forward to wrap his arms around his own shoulders and he hugs tightly back, trying to convey everything that he’s feeling right now. Stuart gives his shoulders a squeeze, so he assumes that he gets it. When they pull away he just nods and pulls the door open for Callum. He distinctly ignores the shine of tears in his brother’s eyes, because there’s no point making a comment on it when he’s sure that his own eyes are the same. 

He slides into the soft seats of the car and Stuart closes the door behind him, giving him a thumbs up and then stepping away. Ben gets in a minute later with a little laugh when his door closes. 

“Doesn’t quite feel real,” he says, and Callum gets the feeling all too well. 

“Definitely not yet,” Callum replies, before turning to look at Ben across the car. Their eyes catch and in that moment he almost never wants to look away. Ben leans forward, though, and presses their lips together. It’s soft, gentle and filled with everything that they’ve both felt today. It feels like true love, the kind of thing that he doesn’t know how to express in words oso he’s perfectly happy saying it like this. 

When Ben pulls away he offers Callum a cheesy smile. “Right, off into the sunset then,  _ husband _ ?” 

The word makes a shiver cross Callum’s spine, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to hearing that. “Yeah. Until we have to come back here because our flight doesn’t leave till tomorrow morning, and we have to say bye to Lexi before we leave.”

“Not tonight though,” Ben says with a mischievous look in his eyes as he slips the key into the ignition. “Booked us into a hotel so we can be properly alone. Surprise.” 

It feels so in character for Ben, and it doesn’t even surprise him that much. 

“Fine, you can whisk me away then,  _ husband _ .” 

Ben smiles back at him, a blush climbing across his cheeks, before he turns to the road and starts up the car, pulling away from the street and driving around and through the square. 

It feels like hope, and only the start of the rest of their lives. 

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write angst but then i wanted a happy ending and then this happened and i love it i just want them to get married so bad   
> i hope you enjoyed it too hehe, comments and kudos mean the world to me n i love u all loads  
> leo x (come find me on tumblr @artsy-highway)


End file.
